Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
1. We are all sinners, but we often do not want to admit it.
2. To have our problems solved we must integrate Divine solutions into solving our problems, that is, we must look to God for his answers and his answer is that we must recognize we are sinners and repent as individuals across this nation.
3. We saw from God’s word that the nations rage; that their leaders simply reflect the mindset of the majority of those people by taking counsel against God and his authoritative Holy Word.
4. We looked at the dangers of globalization and how this movement to bring economic, political and religious unity among the nations puts us into the same disastrous lot with the heathen nations as God’s wrath upon them now comes to us.
The dangers of an amillennial eschatology, which includes the massive Roman Catholic Church, is that this group of church goers and folks in many Protestant denominations have given into these global movements today. They never perceive that what is going on in the world today, especially in the Middle East, as possibly being the birth pains of a coming literal seven year tribulation period, with a call to the Jews repentance and acceptance of Jesus Christ.
5. We looked at God’s acts of divine justice upon any nation; that his immutability demands he act in judgment upon sin today as he has done in the past, Ps.9:17. That the only way God can bring about repentance to individuals and or nations is to allow, and in some instances to initiate suffering, Ps.119:67, 71.
A familiar passage regarding much of what we have said in the past five weeks is found in II Chron.7:14 “If my people who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” We know that lasting peace will not exist among the nations of the world until the Lord raptures out all believers, and the seven year tribulation period is past, and Christ has set up his kingdom. But until then Christians need to know how to stay attuned to the plan of God and support those institutions i.e.,(free will, marriage, family, nationalism, church) that promote God’s will on earth. So we have asked, “What we must do?” Here we find our answers once again as we have in previously covered passages, I Sam.7:3; Ps.9:15, 17; Isa.55:7. We use the “golden rule of interpretation”, by comparing scripture with scripture.
The answer is clear.
1. As individuals and as a nation we must have the humility to acknowledge our sin and pray for God’s forgiveness by turning to Christ in salvation.
2. Believers we must repent and return to the Bible. It is not enough for us to say that we have sinned and done wrong; this is only remorse. We have to have a change of mind with a corresponding change of action. Our behavior must change. This is the definition of repentance.
It takes more than our will to make this change work. We must change the way we think about God. We need God’s power to change. And there is no other place to learn about God’s power than the Bible. Here is where we all must spend time in the Word on a daily basis and then pray for God’s direction to show us where we need to change. If we are practicing sin or we are allowing our daily habits to feed our sinful trends then we must flee those things and then flush them out of our minds, I Jn.2:8. Our minds must become saturated with something more than the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. I teach and preach the Bible three times a week, but I would be glad to do more if you want more. Saturation in God’s word will push out unhealthy attitudes and unfounded fears, I Jn.4:18. The fear mongers in the government and the panic princesses on the television screens would have us roll over and die. Sometimes when I see all of the anti-American sentiment along with the anti-military and anti-family and anti-Christian mentality in this country I wonder, “How long can we remain a free nation?
For the young person who is enamored daily by these things; who is electronically connected to every gadget known to mankind, they are receiving all sorts of input as to why the world is the way it is.
Pantheism (worship of the universe as God) is attractive to young folks and this has become a basis for attracting millions of youngsters to an activism of saving the planet and segments of nature as a religion, as a form of righteous morality. Scripture is forsaken for activism, or manipulated to fit their movements, mean while true worship of God as learned in his word is forsaken and often spurned as mere superstition.
My counsel to young folks is the same as it is to all believers from God; learn the word of God.
Good advise to the young person.
1. Read a chapter a day in the book of Proverbs as a daily devotion.
2. Pick out something you find in each chapter.
3. Ask God to help you work on this area of your life.
4. Keep a journal if it helps.
5. Let God take control of your destiny and let him be your security.
6. Let God’s word set up divine standards and ask him to help you live by them. If you do this, wisdom and understanding will preserve you.
7. Let God’s word filter everything the information highway introduces into your life, and bring in every thought to the obedience of Jesus Christ. II Cor.10:5.
8. Make true Christian friends who support your faith. Those who edify you in God will be more accepting of your mistakes and they will not tempt you with sin.
Take responsibility for your thoughts.
Read Phil.4:4-9
Mental and emotional scars can develop in your youth and if they do God’s word can remove those scars. The key to real happiness and clarity of mind is to submit to God and discipline yourself to not allow those scars to develop in the first place. Humility of mind provides the mental and emotional environment to sustain your innocence in life. The more innocence you retain the less hang ups and guilt complexes you will have to deal with.
Sinful trends can itch and create scars so do as Paul told Timothy to do, “flee youthful lusts”. The light of God’s word will light a path so you can see danger for what it really is. Often times “fun” couches itself in darkness so you can’t see its dangers. Bible truth taken into the mind will shed light on your every step and test.
Resident Bible truth in your soul will keep you from becoming one of the herds that panics or hides in sex and drugs, or in an alternate reality video game world.
Games can be fun but they can also be addictive and lead you into an escape from reality.
Moderation in appropriate recreational activities is your best safeguard from becoming ensnared to those activities. As a Christian you have more important things to do such as learning and seeking the plan of God for your life. Life is precious and so many waste their youth on folly. They are told to have all the fun they can before they grow up and move away from home as if you can’t have fun as an adult Christian. Some of the mistakes young people make in the guise of “having fun” sticks with them for the rest of their lives. For some youth “having fun” gets them killed.
You will find out that growing up isn’t so hard to do when your self-image and self-worth isn’t being defined by what your friends think.
You will find out that the less clutter you have in your life and in your daily activities; the better and more clearer you can think. A sense of destiny is what all young people need and God knows how to show you what he wants you to do with your life.
On the other hand a sense of agitation and frustration will emotionally pull all the strength out of you if you let it. So let the word of God set up a fortress to protect you. Let his word be a shield to absorb the insults non-Christians throw at you. Before you know it you will be married with children and you will find yourself passing this down to your own young folks some day.